My recent post on the Holiday Kid's Club got me thinking about the proportion of Chinese people in all different age groups. But first, I thought I'd have a look at the different ethnic groups that make up the area. In the chart below, I have indicated in brackets the 2 largest nationalities in each ethnic group (click on the image for a larger version):


As I've mentioned before, 15% of the South population are Chinese (in Hurstville that percentage is ridiculously lopsided!). Other significant groups are the Europeans, the Arabs, and of course the Anglo-Saxons.

Break that down into age groups and we get (note the age groups are not all the same size):


A few observations and speculations, plus some information about their religion:

• The Chinese population (red) is fairly evenly spread out amongst all the age groups under 60, hovering around 15% or so with a slightly higher percentage in the 18-29 and 40-49 brackets. But in the 60+ age group, it drops significantly, showing the relatively recent migration from the late 1980s.
• The British (orange) are weighted more heavily in the 40+ age group, and moreso the further along to the right you go. This perhaps reflect the history of early Australian settlement. The main religions in this group are Anglican (35%), Catholic (24%) and "No Religion" (13%).
  
• The Australians (yellow) are weighted more heavily in the under 18s, which might mean that Australian families have more children. The main religions in this group are Catholic (31%), Anglican (28%) and "No Religion" (12%).
• The South Eastern Europeans have a slight peak in the 30-39 and 60-69 age groups, possibly reflecting their earlier migration in the 1950s. The main religion in this group is Eastern Orthodox (85%).

From the census data, it would seem that there are lots of Christians in the area. But this report back in 2001 shows that only 5% of Anglicans and 15% of Catholics actually go to church (no info on Eastern Orthodox churches). And this report shows that church attendance in Anglican and Catholic churches have dropped by 7% and 13% respectively in the 10 years between 1991 and 2001. Admittedly, all this information is very dated and one would hope that the trend is changing. But this gives us a rough idea of the religious landscape in the South.

This obviously has implications for ministry across all the age groups, which I won't go into. But I'll simply say that for those seeking to create a multi-ethnic church which reflects the community, expect it to still be a predominately white church. The challenge will be to make sure that the culture and style of the church will not be one that only attracts white people whilst excluding the other ethnic groups.

Pray for the many nominal Christians who are under the false assumption that they are right with God that God may wake them up to their dilemma. Pray also for the churches in the South that are seeking to reach non-Chinese people that they may know how to best evangelise and disciple these people.